Today marks a major milestone: I just paid off my student loans. In full. All of them. Done!!!
\nI’ve been tackling them fairly steadily since I finished grad school 7 years ago. I had about $25K to pay back. Funny how the amount creeps up bit by bit as the years pass (note: that’s the total for 13.5 years of schooling, plus $1000 I paid back just because some time during the process). I made some big extra payments when I was working in Mississippi, but in spite of my love of all things financial, didn’t really tackle them seriously until I moved back home in 2006. At that point I made it my goal to get rid of them as quickly as possible. I lived with my parents and used every extra penny to pay them down. I rarely bought things except for occasional clothing binges at Value Village (mainly on half-price days). I went on interest relief, meaning I didn’t make monthly payments owing to low income, thus “saving” $300 some per month to put back onto the principal. I drove the same car – paid off in full to my roommate before I left MS (thanks again for the car – I’m still enjoying it.) I rarely ate out. I was FRUGAL! And sure enough, I paid off thousands in that time. <\/p>\n
Then I got married and expenses changed and we had to figure out what to do with our money together. More went into savings. I kept working but also was off work for a few months. Then we were planning for a baby, which isn’t inherently that expensive but does cost some and I was not working for a year – thankful for EI benefits. In any case, money was accumulating and other expenses were dealt with but these loans weren’t our main priority. <\/p>\n
Then we just decided to do it. I had the spare cash (around $4500) in the bank. Our only outstanding costs were my husband’s GST payments for his business, the house\/loan, and these. So we went for it. Clear out these final debts so we can focus our money and attention on the house and what to do with it. I paid one off yesterday online, and the other in person in a bank today with a cheque.<\/p>\n
It feels GOOD. Finished paying off my loans before age 40. NO PERSONAL DEBT!!! I feel in a much stronger financial position and better able to concentrate on other things we need to do. I no longer need to deal with In short, I feel peaceful. Being free of financial burdens – being free of any additional financial costs – is great. I look forward to continuing in this direction as a family as we focus on our next priorities. <\/p>\n
Clearing the decks in every way creates peace. As our decluttering continues I’m noticing a greater feeling of peace in the house and in myself. There are fewer things to take my time and energy. Cleaning up is faster and easier. I have more time and energy to focus on baby and I”m noticing the results in my parenting with greater focus, patience and interaction on my part. I”m loving this direction!<\/p>\n
So, what’s left the house so far you ask? Today I cleared out a box from the dining room table that’s been there for a couple of months \ud83d\ude41 – papers & books associated with my Kyrgyzstan paper. I recycled 1″+ of articles and put 2 books in the give-away box. 3 books are keepers (maybe 2 … we’ll see!) and a 4″ stack of research notes and materials is sticking around until I get things published for reference. I also sorted our magazines, pulling out 4-5″ for husband to look through and discard, and 3 inches for myself. We’re down to one stack of mags, which is much more reasonable. I also sorted a random pile of papers with baby stuff and other things, getting rid of a few things and finding the right home for others. We’ve also eliminated:
\n-2 pencil sharpeners
\n-a big crock pot (going as a gift)
\n-ironing board
\n-more baby clothes<\/p>\n
Incoming items include: 5 books (found from my brother; to be read and discarded); 8 bells (new toy for baby! need to string them); 2nd set of measuring spoons and icing spatula (not sure about these \ud83d\ude42 – not my contribution. But husband has felt the need for both); a double breastpump (needed for work efficiency). <\/p>\n
Now: must sleep. Am wiped. Baby took hours to fall asleep. Sigh. We’ll keep trying. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Today marks a major milestone: I just paid off my student loans. In full. All of them. Done!!! I’ve been tackling them fairly steadily since I finished grad school 7 years ago. I had about $25K to pay back. Funny how the amount creeps up bit by bit as the years pass (note: that’s the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"saved_in_kubio":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kamillamilligan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}